Better Than Revenge
by LivForever
Summary: Things are starting to get dangerous at the precicnt and everyone is being targeted. One by one people break under the pressure. Love is in the air and fear is all around. On top of all this... Olivia is writing a book! (Ch.10 has been re-uploaded. Sorry for the double chapter.)
1. Chapter 1

**_Please don't be mad I'm starting another story... I just like to write. Plus, I'm having writer's block on a few others. I assure you though this is the last story I will upload until all other ones are finished!_**

_Have you ever had that feeling in the pit of your stomach that just wouldn't go away? When you finally think you have control you're told wrong and you feel as if you might throw up. The fear that follows behind you as you walk down the sidewalk. Waiting. Watching. You don't know why you're so scared. You have no reason to be. The things you have seen in your life, tell you otherwise. They tell you to be careful and always be aware of your surroundings. Always be watching._

"Damn it."

"You alright?" Elliot looked up from his desk where he had been shooting paper wads into the trashcan all the way across the room. The night was busy and Elliot wondered what Olivia was up to.

"Yeah," Olivia said raising her eyes up from the computer for the first time in almost two hours, "Why do you ask?"

Elliot cocked an eyebrow, "What are you working on over there?"

Olivia scrammed to click out of the window that had been pulled up on her computer and she rushed to pull up another screen that had been her cover up. "Nothing."

Elliot just nodded his head. Of course he didn't believe her. Olivia had always been secretive and he didn't ever think that would change.

"What do you say we get out of here and grab a bite to eat?"

Olivia seemed to think about it for a moment and then she realized she was pretty hungry, "Sure."

Elliot and Olivia stood up to grab their jackets from the back of their chairs and were almost to the elevator when Captain Cragen yelled their names. They stopped in their tracks and turned around slowly, heading back into the squad room.

Cragen looked down to the ground, "Olivia, I need to speak to you, Privately. Elliot, you're next."  
Just what Olivia needed, to get in trouble. She thought about the last few days and tried to remember if she did anything in particular that would have the captain mad at her. She couldn't think of anything so she just sat down in the chair in front of his desk and waited for him to talk.

Cragen sighed and Olivia noticed that he had yet to look her in the eye, "Captain, what's going on?"

Cragen shook his head, "I keep certain files locked away. I keep them in a special place where I know that nobody will get to them. The key is in a place nobody would think to look. I keep them locked because nobody else needs to see what's inside. It's need to know information."

Olivia was confused on where this conversation was going and it was clear by the puzzled look on her face, "I don't understand."

"Your personal files… are missing. Elliot's too. As well as Munch and Fin's."

"What do you mean missing?"

"As in gone, not found. Disappeared. I check the cabinet every morning just to be safe," Cragen continued to say, "This morning they weren't there."

"Where do you keep them?" Olivia asked.

"My house," Cragen said quietly, "I'm not sure what this means yet but, I know that somebody is going to try and bring things up. Stuff is going to start happening and the sooner we know who took those files, the sooner we can end it."

Olivia nodded her head, "Never a quiet day in SVU…" She walked back out into the quad room where Elliot was waiting patiently leaned up against his desk. "Your turn."

Elliot walked casually into the captain's office as if nothing was wrong. He thought he was just getting a raise or something.

_Maybe it isn't so wrong to be worried. Maybe it's okay to just stand back and watch. Maybe standing back and watching will give you a new perspective. An easier way. I just don't know anymore… _

"Well," Elliot said sitting back down in the chair at his desk, "We could just order in."

Olivia looked up at him and made a face. They always ordered in and They always ate the same thing. Sometimes a girl just wanted a nice dinner in a real restaurant.

"Sure," Olivia sighed.

_Elliot got on the phone with the Chinese place and ordered the same old food we usually got. He even ordered for Cragen, knowing what he always had to eat from there. That's how close we were at SVU. We were all like a giant family. A little dysfunctional but… it was still family. Even if I had them as a family, my stomach always went to that place. That place that felt like at any moment, everything would change._

"This is wack," Fin said as he walked into the squad room and plopped down into his chair at his desk, "I was almost asleep."

"Yeah," Munch said walking in behind him, "Like any of us sleep."

"So I guess Cragen made you guys stay here too, huh?" Olivia asked swiveling her chair so she was facing the both of them.

Munch nodded, "Don't get offended. I love spending time with you all. It's just sometimes I like to blink and you guys not be there."

"Can it Munch," Fin said rolling his eyes, "Nobody's in the mood."

All the chatter stopped when they all heard Cragen's door to his office open and shut. Everyone in the room looked up at him.

"Uh… the take-out is here."

What a relief. They thought they were going to have to go out on the field. "Don't worry," Olivia said standing up with the help of her desk, "I'll get it."

"I call sleeping with Olivia," Elliot said casually as he tossed another wad of paper into the trashcan.

Fin and Munch both turned their heads toward Elliot. Half surprised, half not. Elliot looked up at them when he realized what he had said and began to blush, "I-uh.. I didn't-"

"Save it," Munch said with a wide grin appearing on his face, "We knew it was bound to happen sooner or later."

"What?" Elliot asked innocently as if he didn't already know.

Fin shot him a look, "How long before you two get hitched?"

Elliot laughed, "Funny."

"What's funny?" Olivia asked strutting back into the room with the bag of food.

Elliot shot Munch and Fin a glare telling them to be quiet. "Nothing," he said calmly.

Olivia just nodded her head as if she believed him and carried the food into the table in one of the rooms.

It was pushing midnight now and no matter how hard Olivia tried she just couldn't get to sleep. She tossed and turned and tried with the covers on and the covers off. Elliot was awake on the top bunk as well, just listening to her rustling the sheets.

"Stop moving," he mumbled pretending to have been woken up, "I need my beauty sleep."

Olivia stifled a laugh, "Fine. I'll go into the squad room." Normally Elliot would have gone after her but, he knew that Munch an Fin were in there still awake and he knew the Captain was in his office. He had nothing to worry about. Olivia gave a curt smile to Fin and Munch and went straight to her computer where she pulled up the file she had been working on earlier.

_I couldn't sleep tonight. I'm not sure why. My body is pretty tired but I just get the feeling that sleep won't do me any good. Do you ever feel that way? So tired that you don't think any amount asleep will help? I guess I'm just babbling now but, it's midnight and I have nothing to do. _

"What was that?" Fin asked as he stopped the clicking of the pen in his hand. Olivia looked away from the computer screen and looked toward Cragen's office.

"Cragen?" Olivia asked saving her file and exiting out of it. She got up to walk closer to the office and she tapped lightly on the door, "Captain, are you awake?" When she got no answer she reached for the doorknob and turned it just enough to crack the door open. When she found that the cot was empty she started to worry. She pushed the door open further and screamed at what she saw.

_ "Liv!" Elliot jumped off the top bunk and headed straight into the squad room where he heard Olivia scream. He stood behind Munch and Fin and just stared at the scene in front of him._

Olivia was trying her hardest to catch her breath. She felt tears burning in her eyes and her throat started to feel like it was on fire. She started hyperventilating and that was when Elliot knew he had to do something.

"Liv," he said keeping his voice calm, "Come on." he reached for her arm to pull her away and he was shocked at the response he got. Olivia collapsed into his chest and buried her hands with her face. Fin and Much stood and listened as they heard her sob.

**Reviews are always welcome :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Here you go," Elliot said quietly sitting a Styrofoam cup of coffee in front of Olivia.

Olivia didn't acknowledge that Elliot was even standing next to her. Her eyes were gazed at the men in jackets that had swarmed the place after Munch placed the call. Olivia had tried to hold herself together, she didn't want to seem weak but, this was something she just couldn't handle. Cragen had been her captain, her friend, the closest thing she had to a father and now all of that was taken from her.

Elliot turned his gaze to follow Olivia's and he watched as the people rushed to finish investigating the scene. The yellow letters that read CSU were the only thing that caught his attention.

"We were all sitting just right in here," Olivia said causing everyone to look her way. "Just doing our own thing…"

"Liv."

Olivia shook her head, "None of us heard anything. We didn't see anyone."

Munch and Fin were now standing alongside Elliot around Olivia's desk and staring at her with sad eyes.

"That means he already had to be here," Olivia said angrily wiping away at her tears, "We didn't see anybody come in. We didn't hear anything except the fall."  
"How?" Fin asked, "Don't you think one of us would have noticed if someone as in Cragen's office?"

Olivia shook her head, "He was hiding. When Cragen went to sleep he must have come out and…" she couldn't finish the sentence. She didn't want it to become real what had just happened. The scene still flashed in her mind every time she blinked. She saw his body lying on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding his neck. The terrified look in his unblinking eyes. She saw the gash that was in his throat and she just wanted to cry.

"So, do we think it's the same person who took our files?" Munch asked, reaching under his glasses and wiping the tears from his own eyes.

Olivia shrugged, "I don't know," she said sadly, "Let's hope CSU can give us something."

Just when Olivia finished talking the could see the body bag being carried out. They knew Cragen was in there and they couldn't stand to look. They all turned their heads the other way while Melinda shot them a sad look.

One of the guys from the CSU team approached Olivia's desk and cleared his throat, "I give you my condolences. I just need to ask you guys a few questions."

Olivia rolled her eyes and let out an angry sigh. She didn't want to be hounded by anybody yet. She just wanted time to grieve.

"Did you guys see anybody go into Captain Cragen's office today?"

"No," Elliot said matter-of-factly, "Nobody was in his office today. It was a slow day."

"Where were you guys when this was happening?"

Now Olivia was pissed. "Excuse me?" she pushed her chair away from her desk and stood up giving the man named Mark the death glare, "If you think we did this you are one sick-"

"Liv," Elliot said from beside her.

"No Elliot," she spat, "We didn't do this! We didn't see anybody! Do you think we would have let this happen if we did? He was our Captain!" Olivia didn't let anyone else get a word in edge wise before she stormed off into the cribs.

"I wasn't implying you guys-"

"We know," Fin said speaking up, "It's just been a rough night."

Mark gave a curt nod and then excused himself back to the crime scene where he would continue to collect evidence.

Fin and Munch trudged back to their desks in silence and just sat there thinking about what was going on. Elliot made his way to the cribs where he hoped to calm Olivia down.

"Hey," he said quietly sitting down next to her on the bed, "You want to talk about it?"

"No, I do not want to talk about it,' she said angrily, "I want to be left alone."

"Whoa," Elliot said getting slightly agitated, "I'm not the one to be mad at here."

Olivia sighed, "I know that."

"Do you think this has anything to do with the Soloman case?"

Olivia looked down to the floor and then looked up again, "Rick did say that he would get revenge."

"Yeah but, why Cragen? Rick never saw him or met him. Only Fin and I."

Olivia shook her head, "I don't know." She tilted her head back and blinked a few times to try and keep the tears away. "I can't believe he's really dead…"

"Liv," Elliot said sadly, reaching t pull her in his embrace.

"We were just talking to him earlier tonight and now he's gone. Dead. Murdered." her voice broke off toward the end of the sentence and Elliot instantly felt all of her pain. Cragen had been that rock in their life for a long time now. Whenever things were tough for them he was always there to talk to. Always there to give advice.

"I know," Elliot said, "I know."  
-

CSU had finally done their part for the night and they had dispersed, leaving the precinct somber and quiet. Everyone was sitting at their desks not talking. Olivia was typing away at her computer and Elliot was attempting to make paper wads but, he just couldn't get his heart into it.

_ Just when you think things can't get worse… they do. Maybe I had a reason to have that feeling in my stomach. Maybe it was trying to warn me that something bad was about to happen. I loved Don like he was my own father. He was someone I trusted and someone I cared for immensely. Now that he's gone I wonder what is going to happen to SVU… he was what held everybody together. He was the one who always helped us solve our fights with each other. _

_ I keep telling myself that this is all a dream and I will wake up from this terrible nightmare at any moment but, the longer I sit here and type the more I realize how real I actually is. Somebody is targeting us. Who? Why? These are questions I ask myself everyday… _

Soon the quietness that filled the precinct was disturbed when we all turned our heads because we heard the elevator doors ding. Fin stood up and grabbed his gun out of his holster, walking toward the elevator.

"It's just me," Melinda said holding her hands up in the defenseless position.

Fin sighed of relief and put his gun away, "Sorry. Just a bit on edge."

Melinda nodded and followed him into the squad room. She understood. This was devastating news to them all.

"I hate to give you guys any more bad news," Melinda stated, "But IAB has just informed me that I won't be allowed to handle this case."

Olivia's eyes shot away from her computer and looked directly at Melinda, "Why?"

Melinda shrugged, "They didn't say. They just took it."

Elliot was wearing a puzzled look on his face and nobody understood why Melinda was working this case. If anyone should be allowed to work the case it should have been Melinda. She was more than professional at her job.

"My guess is they will be telling you that you can't work the case either," Melinda said.

"They can't do that," Munch said, "What d they think we honestly killed him ourselves?"

"Something's not right about this," Fin said adding his two cents, "They wouldn't just exclude us. Why do they want this case? They have never been 'caring' before."  
"I'm not even suppose to be saying anything to you guys," Melinda said tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, "Tucker told me I had the right to keep my mouth shut."

"Let's pay Tucker a visit," Fin said grabbing his coat from his chair.

Fin and Munch went to find Tucker and ask him why they were being so secretive about things. The squad had a right to know what happened, especially since they were in danger too.

Elliot, Melinda, and Olivia stayed at the precinct and kept an eye out on things. They tried to get a little more information about Rick and if it was possible that he had gotten into the precinct when none of them had been there. Things so far had starting going to hell and fast. Olivia didn't understand it and neither did anyone else. It was as if they had had the rug pulled out from underneath them. Usually when they were targeted they saw the sings. Someone falling them, getting threats through emails or some sort of a delivery… murder was never the first… unless it was someone highly trained.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where the hell is Tucker?" Fin bellowed marching into One Police Plaza.

"Excuse me," a young scrawny man said standing in front of Fin and stopping him from moving forward, "Can I help you."

"Tucker. Where is he?"

The scrawny man was scared of Fin and he cowered down and pointed to the door back behind him, "In there."

Fin pushed passed the rest of the people with Munch following behind and slammed the door open to the room in the back.

"What's your secret? You think you can just take this one from us? We didn't do this!" Fin was furious and he wasn't about to let Tucker run all over him.

"What are you talking about?" Tucker asked looking up at them from his desk.

"Our captain," Munch said stepping in, "Why can't we work this case?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tucker asked again, "We didn't take the case from you. I have been here all day. Ask anyone."

Fin opened his mouth to say something but decided against it, "Our M.E said that you came to her office and told her to keep her mouth shut about Cragen."

"I have been here all day," Tucker said again, "It wasn't me."

"Then who was it?" Munch asked.

Tucker shrugged, "I swear it wasn't me."

Fin sighed and turned to Munch who was just looking down at his shoes. They had a psychopath on their hands.

"You doing okay?"

Olivia had been hiding away all day. She didn't want anyone to see her the way she was and Elliot couldn't blame her. He didn't want to be seen either. He figured since the both of them probably looked like a hot mess they might as well look like hot messes together.

Olivia shrugged, "Been better."

Elliot walked over to where she was sitting with her back against the wall and sat down next to her, crossing his legs Indian style. "You want to talk about it?"

The tears she had tried hard to get rid of came flooding back and she couldn't help but let them, "What's to talk about? He was murdered and we were all in the next room. We could have saved him."

"No we couldn't have Liv. You know that."

Olivia shook her head and wiped her eyes, "When I find the bastard that did this he isn't going to know what hit him."

Elliot smiled. He liked when Olivia got all tough on him and started threatening to beat people up. "You aren't going to solve anything by sitting in here all day."

Olivia met his gaze and gave him a soft smile, "You're right. Let's go check out his office."

They walked into Cragen's office where the crime scene had been frozen in time. The blood was still on the floor and the splatter marks were on the walls. All the papers that were on the floor still remained there, untouched.

Olivia let out a shaky breath and looked to Elliot for reassurance before walking any further in. He nodded his head slightly because he knew Olivia needed a bit of a push.

"The window doesn't look like it was tampered with," Olivia said giving it a good look, "That's what I don't understand."

"The desk," Elliot said walking behind it, "Cragen wasn't at his desk all day. He was sitting in here for the most part."

"Then when we went to the cribs he pulled out his cot," Olivia said catching on, "So he never was at his desk. He would have never known if someone was hiding under it."

Elliot nodded as he observed the under part of the desk. There wasn't much there, just dust on the floor from where it hadn't been moved in awhile. There was on thing though, a small strand of hair.

"I got something," Elliot said picking up the hair and stuffing it into a bag carefully.

"Whoever did this had to of walked right past us," Olivia said sadly, "We should have been paying more attention. A precinct full of cops and nobody bothered to notice..."

"We were all busy Liv," Elliot assured her, "It could have been while we were on the field."

"Somebody had to have seen him," she said crossing her hands in front of her chest,  
We just need to find out who."

"Yo, Melinda," Fin said entering the morgue with Munch right on his tail, "The man who came in and talked to you, what did he look like?"

"Medium height, dark hair, blue eyes," Melinda began, "He showed me his badge. What is this for?"

"Tucker doesn't look like that," Fin sighed, "We went down to talk to him after you came and told us the news. He's been at 1PP all day and he has about a hundred witnesses."

Melinda crossed her arms and tilted her head with a questioning look, "Then who in the hell did I just give a dead body to?"

"Probably the killer," Munch informed.

"Anything else we should know about him?" Fin asked trying to get as much detail as possible.

"He did mumble something on his way out," Melinda answered, "I thought he was just being an ass but, now that I think about it, he said, 'now they will have to pay attention to me.'"

Munch rolled his eyes, "That narrows it down to one of our many New York neighbors who hate us."

"Check outside," Melinda said, "Their shoe prints would be on the side walk because Janet cleaned her car in the parking lot. He would have had to step in water and then the dirt from the broken flower pot.

"Thanks," Fin said, "I'll keep you updated."

**Any thoughts on who it could be?**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm going to say this takes place in season 10 because if I give you the exact season with the bad guy... I'm afraid you will catch on more quickly than I would like. So, the perp could be from any season before season 10. Good luck! :)**

_Do you ever over analyze things? You could be sitting in a room with a two people and when you turn your head, you don't even remember their hair color. As a detective, I'm trained to do so. I try to memorize everything about a person just in case. I should have been paying attention to everyone who walked through those doors. There was the little kid who was lost and couldn't find his mother. There was Langan walking with Cabot. There was the tall guy who had a long beard then, I left with Elliot to talk to a victim._

"Hey El," Olivia said saving her document and exiting out of it, "When we left, Munch and Fin were upstairs looking at photos from the case, right?"

Elliot looked up from his computer and squinted his eyes, "Yeah. They were here all after noon."

Olivia nodded, "Maybe they saw some people coming in. I only remember up until we left."

"Fin just texted me and said they are on their way back," he said closing his phone, "We'll have to talk about it."

Olivia sighed and ran her hands through her hair. She was more than tired but she knew that trying to go to sleep wasn't going to solve anything. She wiped the tiredness out of her eyes and stood to stretch.

"You sure you're holding up okay?"

Olivia nodded, "I'm fine, El."

Fin and Munch came waltzing into the squad room with long looks on their faces. They were just as disturbed about what had happened as anyone.

"We need to go over every person that walked through those doors," Olivia said sitting back down in her office like chair and spinning it to face Munch and Fin.

"When you guys left it was quiet," Fin shrugged, "The only other people that came in were Alex and Trevor."

"We can't rule anybody out," Elliot said placing his hands on the back of his head in the resting position.

"What are you saying?" Olivia asked hastily, "I sure hope you're talking about Langan as a suspect because Alex would never do this."

"I didn't see either of them leave," Munch said adding his two cents.

"Me either," Fin chimed.

Elliot shrugged, "Let's check out Langan first."

"Hey," Alex said with grief stricken on her face, "I heard what happen. I can't believe it." The tall blonde sat at her desk with her hands resting gently on top of it when the gang of detectives entered.

"Do you know where Trevor Langan is?" Olivia asked, "We kind of need to find him."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "No. Last time I talked to him was early this morning in chambers. We were talking with Judge Houston about a trial."

Olivia nodded, "If you see him will you tell him to give us a call?"

"Sure," Alex agreed, "Again, I'm sorry about what happened."

The day was dragging on and Olivia was getting more and more depressed. She couldn't help but gaze over toward the door that was hiding the vicious crime. Every time she thought about what could have went down she cringed. She recalled the last time she had talked to Cragen. It was when he was telling her about the missing files. She didn't think anything of it at the time but, he had been genuinely scared. She didn't want to call him out about it because what detective in their right mind would do that to their captain? Not her. Now she sort of regretted it.

"Brought you some coffee," Elliot said sitting the steaming styrofoam cup down in front of her.

She jolted out of her thoughts and looked up at him, "Thanks."

"You want to talk about it yet?"

"Elliot, I told you I was fine."

"No you're not," Elliot insisted, "You and Cragen were close. Closer than any of us here."

Olivia sighed. She could feel her throat starting to burn and her eyes began to water. "At night when everybody else would go home to their lives... we would talk. I would be the only one here and he knew I didn't like going home. We would just talk. About our lives. He told me about his wife... We bonded. He was the closest person I had to a parent figure. He cared about me and I-I cared about him."

Elliot felt terrible seeing Olivia break down like she was. He knew it was bound to happen sooner or later and he just wished he could bring Cragen back.

"It'll be alright," Elliot said rubbing his hand down her back.

"Sure," Olivia chuckled, "You still have a family."

"Liv..."

Olivia shook her head, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be an ass."

"Why don't we go get something to eat? We can talk about it over lunch."

"Okay," she said giving him a half-smile.

"Okay."

"Liv's really upset," Fin said to Munch as they sat at their desks waiting for any information on the whereabouts of Langan.

Munch sighed, "She may not have been here longer than Elliot and I but, her and Cragen were close."

Fin nodded. He knew what it was like to lose somebody close to you. A few years back he had a best friend. They understood each other because they both grew up the same way. Fin used to think that having a best friend was a load of bull but when Lamar passed away, he knew he had lost a best friend.

The phone on Olivia's desk started ringing and since Munch was closer he walked over and picked it up.

"Special Victim's Unit, Detective Munch speaking."

"I need to speak with Detective Benson."

"She isn't here at the moment," Munch said, "Are you in any danger?"

The person on the other end hung up the phone and the dial tone sounded in Munch's ear. "Whoever it was hung up the phone."

"Did they ask for Liv?"

"Yeah," Munch answered, "Do you think we should trace the call?"

Fin shrugged, "Everyone's a suspect."

"I can't believe he's really gone," Olivia said sitting down in the booth and taking a bite of her pepperoni pizza, "I thought if anyone would get hurt it would be me or you. We are always getting into bad situations... I never thought about him getting hurt."

"It's okay to be upset," Elliot assured her, "Nobody's going to think any less of you."

"That's besides the point," Olivia said quietly, "Who cares if I cry? What's the point in it? What does it do for me? Nothing. It doesn't get justice. It doesn't solve the murder. Nobody cares. Leave it at that."

Elliot took a moment to look at Olivia as she sat there eating her pizza. She talk small bites and Elliot wasn't sure if she was hungry or if she just agreed to come because she wanted to get away from the precinct.

"I care."

Olivia sat her slice of pizza down and met Elliot's gaze. She wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly. She thought her ears were playing tricks on her. "What?"

"I care," he repeated, "I care when you cry. I hate seeing you cry because then I know that you aren't okay. I hate that you go alone every night by yourself after seeing what you do all day. I wish I could be there to hug you and tell you that everything will be okay."

"Elliot..."

"I mean it."

_I'm not the only one who over analyzes right? The man who killed Cragen could be sitting in this room. It could be that man sitting at the far right by his self wearing the orange and gray jacket with a little piece of lettuce in his teeth. It could be the woman who was sitting behind me wearing the purple shirt and drinking the mixture of two sodas. It could be anyone._


	5. Chapter 5

**My heart goes out to all of those that were in the path of hurrican Sandy. God Bless.**

"The call came from a disposable phone," Morales said typing away on his computer, "I wish I had more news but... this guy made sure he covered his tracks. There isn't even a serial number on the phone or anything. He left no way to trace it."

Fin sighed and looked toward Munch who had bowed his head, "I don't feel good about this," Fin said, "First Cragen and then they call Liv's desk? Something's up."

Munch nodded, "Should we put a protective detail on her?"

"Nah," Fin said, "Her and Elliot have been joined at the hip. He won't let anything happen to her. He hasn't even let her out of his sight."

"There is something else though," Morales said breaking up the conversation, "I worked on looking up the history of your Captain's computer. The last thing he looked up was Serena Benson."

"Olivia's mom?" Munch asked, "Why would he do that?"

Morales shrugged and continued typing away on his laptop, "I'm not sure but, he was trying to delete things. Whatever it was, he didn't want people looking her up on the internet."

Walking into the precinct, Olivia felt the reality of Cragen being gone hit her all over again like a ton of bricks. She hated being in the same building, so close to the scene of the crime. "We should get out of here," she said simply, "We can work the case at my place. Munch and Fin too. We just shouldn't be here. It doesn't seem right without him."

Elliot nodded and understood how Olivia felt. The 1-6 just wasn't the same without Don Cragen. It may never be the same again.

"I'm up for it," he said, "I'm sure Fin and Munch will be too. I'll shoot them a text to meet us at your place."

_Before we go, I have to tell you one last thing about the people here. Everyone is like a family. I feel like since the day I first started everyone has had my back. We grew closer throughout the years and of all the people that came and went, this has to be the best of them. Fin, Munch, Elliot, and Cragen. You couldn't ask for people to have your back. Everybody here as their own problems, just like a real family, they all have things they are dealing with. We might get in scuffles during the day but, at the end, it's already forgotten about. Who would do such a thing to a family? Who would rip apart the father figure of four children? Who would do such a thing...?_

"Sorry the place is such a mess," Olivia said following Elliot inside and tossing her purse onto the couch, "I don't really have time to clean up."

"My house has been worse," he said with a smirk on his face.

"I wonder if Munch and Fin have gotten anything," she said pouring her and Elliot a glass of wine, "Lord knows we haven't."

Just then there was a knock at Olivia's door and they knew it was none other than Fin and Munch. Munch had a special knock he used when knocking on anybody's door. He called it the 'Munch Knock.'

"I'll get it," Elliot said making his way to the door and then unlocking the gold chain.

"Got anything?" he asked as Munch and Fin trailed in and headed to the couch.

Fin nodded and made a gesture that told Elliot they shouldn't talk about it in front of Olivia. Fin didn't want to mention what they had found to her just in case it wasn't relevant to the case. He didn't want to add more stress.

"I'll be right back Liv," Elliot said to her. He followed Fin outside and they stood in a lesser crowded area so nobody could hear them."What is it?"

"A call came to Liv's desk today," he began explaining, "Munch answered and they only wanted to talk to Olivia. We had the call traced and Morales wasn't able to get anything. Not even a serial number."

"So, maybe it could have been a scared victim from a case," Elliot said as the thoughts sorted over in his head.

"Maybe," Fin said, "But Morales also had Cragen's laptop. He said the last thing he searched before it all happened was Serena Benson."

"Liv's mom."

"Yeah. He was trying to delete the articles that were online about her. He didn't want anyone to see them."

Elliot raised his eyebrow inquisitively, "Why?"

With a shrug of his shoulder, Fin answered, "I'm not sure. We have to read those articles."

Elliot nodded and knew what that meant. It was his job to keep his eye on Olivia and make sure she was safe and handling things okay. It had been his job from day one and he didn't mind it. Of course he would never tell her that because then she would probably hurt him. While Elliot kept Olivia occupied, Fin and Munch would read the articles on the computer. Maybe it was best if Olivia didn't work the case. She already looked like she had lost some weight and it had only been a day.

When they were finished talking they went back inside and all gathered in the living room with a beer in their hand. Olivia had warm tea.

"So, anything?" she questioned.

"Nothing," Fin said.

She sighed, "I still can't believe this. It's just so... unreal."

"I know," Munch said, "I never thought he would be the one to die on the job. I always figured it would be you."

"That's comforting," Olivia said sarcastically, "Thanks."

"Well, you're always getting yourself in risky situations! Remember when you were held hostage? Stalked? Stalked again? Framed for murder?"

"Okay, okay," she said, "I get it. I don't need to be reminded."

"Shows she's good at her job," Elliot said always having her back.

"It shows she's a looney," Munch said rolling his eyes.

Olivia reached her arm out and playfully slapped Munch in his arm, "You better watch it."

"Feel free to make yourselves at home," Olivia said standing up and stretching her arms in the air, "I'm going to go lay down and take a nap."

"You feeling okay?" The question came from Elliot.

"Yeah I just have a headache," she answered, "I'll be fine. There's drinks in the fridge and the take out paper is on the fridge if you get hungry." She made her way into her bedroom where she closed the door and climbed into bed. She still felt like Cragen's murder was her fault. They were all in the precinct just next door to him. They could have saved him. He could have been saved.

When the boys were sure Olivia was asleep they pulled out a laptop and started searching for Serena Benson on the internet. There were several articles that popped up but, there wasn't anything wrong with them. They were just stories about the colleges and who and the alumni that went there.

"Why would Cragen try to delete these?" Fin asked, "They're just normal articles on the internet."

"He had a reason," Elliot said, "We just don't know what."

"Think about who else knows about Liv's mom."

"Has anyone talked to Langan yet?" Fin asked, "He might no something. He probably does digging when he has clients and he was Olivia's lawyer once."

"You guys go ahead," Elliot said closing the laptop after deleting the history, "I'm gonna stay here and make sure Liv's alright."

"Just don't have sex," Munch said already closing the door behind him.

Elliot shook his head, only Munch would make a joke like that at a time like this.

"Hey," Elliot whispered stepping into Olivia's room, "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," she said in a tired voice, "I just need to sleep. I haven't slept in a while and I think it's finally getting to me."

Elliot nodded, they had all been awake since things went down. "You mind if I lay down too?"

Olivia hesitated for a moment as she pulled the covers up under her chin, "Sure."

_Do you ever have that feeling when you feel like you can't breathe? Like you're suffocating but, in a good way? Right now, I feel like that. I enjoy the company. I'm just not sure what to do with that... _


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry it's been awhile since I have updated this. I'm just trying to make sure it's nice and suspenseful.**

"No..." Olivia said shaking her hand and bringing her hand straight to her mouth. This wasn't happening. It couldn't possibly be happening. As her knees felt weak like jello beneath her she knew it had to have been a dream. There was no way this was her reality.

"I'm sorry," the man in dark blue scrubs said to them, "He's dead."

Olivia couldn't control her sobs anymore and she let her tears flow. Elliot pulled her close to him and planted a kiss on top of her head. It was all he could do to stop his own tears.

It all started out fine when they went to visit Langan. He had been his usual cocky and arrogant self.

"We need to talk," Fin said barging into Langan's office, not caring what he was doing.

"Excuse me," Langan said standing up from his chair, "What makes you think you can just barge on in here?!"

Fin shrugged, "Yeah. Call a cop."

"What do you want?" Langan asked wanting to get this over with. He didn't want to talk to anyone at SVU longer than he had to.

"Where were you the Friday that our captain was killed?" Munch asked accusingly.

Langan scoffed, "Working the Piper case. Ask Alice Piper. I was with her the whole night after I left your precinct."

"We will," Munch said turning and following Fin out of the office, slamming the door closed behind him.

When they left the office there wasn't anyone in the main hallways of the building. Everything seemed to be quiet. Almost too quiet. When they had come in there had been plenty of people standing around and chatting quietly. No there was nobody in sight.

"This is too weird," Fin said as he kept on walking toward the door. "I don't understand this case at all." When there wasn't a witty reply from Munch he turned around and Munch was gone.

"John? John?! What the hell man, this ain't funny." He stopped where he was just before the door and looked around for where Munch would be hiding.

Then there was a bang and a thud to the floor and that's when he saw John's body convulsing as he lay on the cold marble of the floor. He rushed to John's side and looked around them to see if anyone was there but there was no one. "John," he said hoping for a reply, "John come on. Don't do this to me. You don't get to stop being my partner that easily."

"What the hell happened?" Trevor Langan asked rushing over to them, already on the phone with 911.

"He was shot," Fin said. "That's all I know."

"1013!" Langan announced into the phone. He was around enough to know what 1013 meant and they had a serious situation on their hands. John didn't look too good at all. He was unconscious and there was dark red blood seeping out of his wound.

Fin didn't understand. He hadn't heard or seen a thing. It was like a ghost was the one doing this. They had no leads. They had no evidence. All they had now were two dead bodies on their hands.

Now it was the three of them. Olivia, Elliot, and Fin. They were sitting silently in Olivia's living room. Nobody said a word. Nobody knew what to say. Anyone of them could be next and they didn't even know what to look out for.

Olivia took a deep breath and sighed, breaking the almost deadening silence. "You guys know something."

Fin shot a glance toward Elliot who looked a bit panicked. He didn't want Olivia to think that they were keeping secrets from her. She would be pissed if that happened.

"What are you talking about?" Fin asked.

"Morales called me earlier," she said looking over to him. "He told me that he was able to get on the websites long enough to print the articles off. I asked him what he was talking about and-

"Liv, we didn't mean any harm. We just didn't want to worry you anymore," Elliot said interrupting her.

She sighed, "He sent the articles."

Fin straightened his position and shot Elliot another glance. Maybe they had a lead after all. Maybe the articles about Serena would be the clue to the whole case.

"Well…?" Elliot asked. The anticipation was killing him.

Her eyes seemed to water up a bit and it took her a moment before answering. "Apparently my mother wasn't my mother."

Fin raised a brow, "What do you mean?"

"According to those articles… she wasn't my mom. Apparently I was left on her front porch one day and she decided to just take me in."

"Liv," Elliot said scooting closer to her. Clearly the subject matter had upset her. "That's not true. You don't know who wrote that article. It could have been anyone."

The first tear escaped her eye and she felt embarrassed. "Who would say that? Who would want to do this me? Clearly this is all my fault." She got choked up on her words and Elliot pulled her into a warm and comforting embrace.

"This isn't your fault, Liv," Fin said feeling sorry for her, "This isn't anybody's fault."

She shook her head, her tears falling faster now. "You don't understand," she whispered, "This IS my fault."  
**Uh oh. What is Olivia talking about?**


	7. Chapter 7

**This is where the drama kicks up! Thank you for reading and reviewing!**

"How could this possibly be your fault?" Fin asked, "You didn't kill them. You didn't do this."

Olivia sighed and wiped a few tears from her eyes. "The articles were all written by the same person. They all said that Serena Benson was a murderer who was still running free because the legal system let her off the hook."

"Olivia, your mother isn't a killer," Elliot informed her, "If anybody knows that it's you."

"She didn't die by falling down the steps," Olivia said giving him an angry glare, "She was pushed."

Now Fin was starting to understand. The whole incident with Olivia's mother dying really took a toll on her at work. He would catch her crying sometimes and he couldn't imagine how hard it must have been on her. "But what does all of this have to do with Cragen and Munch?"

Olivia shrugged, "I'm still trying to figure that part out. I still don't know why he was trying to delete these articles. My theory is such a far stretch and I could be way off but, like I said, all these articles were written by the same person."

"Who?" the guys asked in unison.

"Judge Donelley."

Elliot shook his head. The whole case was becoming such a mess that nothing made sense anymore. He went over all of the details in his head trying to think of anything they might have missed, even the slightest connection that had somehow been overlooked. Cragen was murdered in cold blood while they were all in the same building. Munch was murdered silently while Fin was with him. Langan seemed genuinely concerned and had an alibi so he was off the suspect list. The last thing Cragen did on the internet was try to delete articles containing Serena Benson and the articles were all written by Judge Donelley.

"So we go and talk to her," Elliot said, "Ask her how she knows anything about your mother and why she would write such things."

"I can't," Olivia whispered, "I can't talk to her. You go... You and Fin. I'll be fine here."

Elliot didn't want to leave Olivia alone but, he didn't really have a choice. She was safer staying in by herself than someone was going out by themselves and they needed to get to the bottom of things.

"Lock the doors as soon as we leave," Fin said standing and gathering his badge and gun, "Don't let anyone in except us. We will call when we are on our way back."

"Got it Fin," Olivia said smiling. She was lucky she had such amazing friends.

"Don't answer for anyone," Elliot reiterated as he pulled her into a hug and planted a light kiss on her cheek.

"I won't."

"We better make this fast," Elliot said, "I don't want Olivia to be there by herself for too long."

Fin nodded, "Let's just get in, do our business, and get the hell out."

The climbed up the front steps to Elizabeth Donelley's apartment and Fin reached up to knock on the door but stopped and turned to Elliot.

"We better think about this," Fin said, "Donelley will have our ass for accusing her of anything..."

"I'm not accusing her," Elliot shrugged, "Yet... Let's just ask her why she wrote the articles. We won't go any further than that."

Fin agreed and knocked on the door, being warmly greeted by Elizabeth.

"Hello you two," she said, "I wasn't expecting anybody. Come on in."

The guys walked in and stood just inside the door, checking out the building. They were familiarizing themselves with the scene just in case something was to happen.

"We just.. have a few questions," Elliot began, "What do you know about Olivia's mother? Serena Benson."

Elizabeth looked caught off guard. She hadn't heard Serena's name for quite sometime. "I know that she was my first case," she began walking into the living room and had a seat on the couch, inviting Elliot and Fin to do the same.

"Your first case as a judge?" Fin asked, just to clarify.

Elizabeth nodded, "She was on trial for murder... there was no evidence against her. There wasn't even a body so, how the case even made it to trial is up for wonders."

"But there had to have been something that made you believe she was guilty," Fin said, "You wrote all of those articles about her on the internet."

Elizabeth looked confused, "What are you talking about? I barely even know how to use the internet."

Elliot sighed, "Don't play hardball with us. The files were uploaded to the internet from your IP address."

Elizabeth shook her head and sat her glass of water down on the coffee table with a little force, "I'm telling you it wasn't me. Check my computer."

Elliot sighed, "It's not that we don't believe you. It's that we have a very difficult case on our hands and... we're just trying to get to the bottom of things."

"I understand," Elizabeth said, "Take my laptop and have Morales do whatever he needs to do with it. I haven't used that thing in ages." She got up from her seat on the couch and walked over to the kitchen counter where the laptop was plugged into the wall charging. "Here," she said handing it to Elliot, "Just don't break it. Those are expensive."

Elliot nodded, "We'll return it to you as soon as possible."

"No rush," she said sitting back down, "See you."

Elliot and Fin left and made sure they had Elizabeth lock the doors behind them. Everyone involved in anyway with SVU could be a target and they wanted everybody safe. That was hard to do though when everybody was also a suspect.

Olivia was getting more tired as the sunset dipped even further behind the horizon and she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She was just exhausted. She grabbed a duvet off the back of the couch and pulled it down over her, too tired to walk to her bedroom. She closed her eyes and sleep immediately overtook her body. She didn't sleep long though when she was waken by a banging on her door.

She bolted awake and realized she must have been asleep for quite some time because it was now dark outside and the moon was hanging high. The banging continued and it was beginning to scare her. She couldn't ask who it was because then they would know she was home. She also didn't want to look through the peep hole because then they would hear her moving around. There weren't any lights on in her apartment because it had still been light out when she went to sleep. So now she was stuck in the dark.

She moved her hand around the couch feeling for her phone that she knew she had fallen asleep with close by. When she couldn't find it she began moving her feet around on the floor by the couch, hoping to come across it. When she finally felt it hit her foot she reached down to pick it up and turned it on silent. She didn't need it going off when she was trying to play off not being home.

The banging on the door had ceased and Olivia strained to hear for any footsteps outside. There had been none and she knew that whoever was outside her door was still there. She took a deep breath and unlocked her phone so she could use the light as her guide. She quietly rose from the couch and quietly tiptoed into her bedroom. She was very cautious as to not make any sound. When she was finally as far away from the door as possible she dialed Elliot's number.

"Everything okay?" he asked when he answered the phone.

"No," Olivia whispered with panic evident in her voice, "Somebody's here."

"What do you mean?" Elliot asked fearfully, "Where are you? What's going on?"

"I'm at my apartment," she answered, "There's somebody at the door. They were banging for about five minutes and they stopped. They're still there though."

"We're on our way," Elliot said, "Just stay in your room. Do you have your gun?"

She sighed, "It's in the living room. I couldn't see."

Then the banging started again and Olivia nearly jumped out of her skin. This was beginning to terrify her. Nobody ever knocked on her door unless it was Elliot or somebody from work but clearly this wasn't. Even if it was they would have the common sense to call her whenever she didn't answer.

"They're banging again," Olivia said, "El, please hurry. I'm really freaking out now."

"We're stuck in traffic," Elliot said clearly pissed off.

"What? El, I can't hear you. Your phones cutting out."

"Liv?" Elliot asked into the receiver.

"Elliot?" she pulled her phone away from her ear only to see the blinking battery light telling her that her phone was about to die. "Shit," she mumbled. She tossed the phone onto her bed and sat there, just listening to the pounding on the door and willing for it to go away.

"What's going on?" Fin asked as the light turned green and cars finally started to move along the freeway.

"Somebody's at Liv's apartment," he answered, "She said they were pounding on the door and they have been for the past ten minutes. We have to get there. She's really freaking out."

Fin nodded and turned his police siren on as he dodged through the traffic like a maze, wanting to make a speedy time back to Olivia's apartment.

The knocking stopped again and Olivia took a deep breath, hoping whoever it was finally went away. She sat on the edge of her bed, waiting for about five minutes to see if it started back up. When it didn't, she quietly got off her bed and walked into the hallway, heading for the door. She wanted to look through the peephole. She was almost out of her room when she heard a knocking sound on her window. She jolted her head to look but the curtains were up and there was no way she was seeing anybody. She was breathing heavily and beginning to sweat. This wasn't funny to her anymore and she wished she never told Elliot to leave.

She leaned back against the wall in the hallway and sunk to the floor, bringing her knees close to her chest. She was trapped in her own house. Trapped and couldn't get out.

Fin pulled up at the apartment building and both him and Elliot were cautious before going in. They looked around for anything or anyone that seemed out of the ordinary. They had their guns drawn and they weren't taking any chances. Fin went first into the building and Elliot followed behind. They took the stairs up to Olivia's floor instead of the elevator, hoping to catch their bad guy in the act.

When they got to her door though, there was nobody there. Elliot fumbled with his copy of the key in his pocket and stuck it in the lock, causing Olivia to look up in fear. Her phone was dead and now she had no way of knowing if it was Elliot and Fin trying to get in.

"Liv," Fin said, "It's just us. We're coming in."

Elliot turned the lock and pushed the door open, only to lock it up tightly behind him. Olivia sighed of relief and ran into the living room into his arms. She had been so scared.

"Calm down," he told her rubbing her back as she shook, "It's okay. We're back now. Nobody's out there."

"They were outside my bedroom window," she sobbed, "Somebody was here. They know where I live. They would have killed me..."

"Liv," Elliot said squeezing her tighter, "Just calm down. Nobody is going to hurt you."

Fin flicked the light on and went into her bedroom to check the locks on the windows. He drew the curtains back and was shocked at what he saw.

"Elliot," he called, "I think you want to see this."

Elliot wondered what Fin was talking about so he made his way into the back bedroom and Olivia followed him.  
"Oh my..."

"Somebody was definitely here," Elliot said.

Once Fin had pulled the bedroom curtains back, the words "YOU'RE NEXT" had been exposed in giant red letters.

Olivia felt like she was going to be sick. Whoever was after them was not playing games.


	8. Chapter 8

"Here," Elliot said handing Olivia a warm cup of tea, "Drink it. It will make you feel better."

Olivia shook her head. "Nothing could possibly make me feel better."

Fin had opened the bedroom window and looked for prints or anything that could help them out. There was nothing. The only thing there was the writing that was practically glowing in their faces. If Olivia was the next target, they had to step up their protection. They needed to figure this out before another person was killed. They needed to figure it out fast.

"We should get out of here," Fin suggested as he sat down on the couch next to Olivia. "It isn't safe here."

"Where would we go?" Olivia asked, "If they know where I live they probably know where you guys live too."

"We can go to a hotel," Elliot said, "Just for a few nights. We can split a room."

Olivia wasn't feeling the idea. She didn't want to pack her things and stay in some hotel because someone was after her. She wanted to fight fire with fire. She wasn't going to let this guy win by showing that she was scared. Staying in a hotel could be just want the perp wanted.

"No," she said, "We can't do that. He wants us to leave. I'm staying here."

Fin sighed, he should have known Olivia would say that.

"Look at you," he pointed, "You're shaking. You're scared to be here and that's okay. Two close friends of yours were just murdered. You have the right to be scared. We all do. Please, Liv. Just for a few nights, until we figure something out."

Olivia seemed to be thinking about it but the thought process didn't take long when there was a knock on the door. Olivia nearly screamed at the knock even though it was a quiet one. Elliot pulled his gun out and went to the door to look through the peephole. He was relieved when he saw Elizabeth standing on the other side. He lowered the gun and unlocked the chain and deadbolt, letting her in.

All of them were shocked she came to them in the condition she was in. She had blood all over her pants and her hands. Her eyes were red and glossy from tears and her hair was all out of place.

"Elizabeth..." Olivia gasped, "What happened?"

Elliot helped Elizabeth to sit down on the couch and Fin wrapped a blanket around her. Olivia sat down next to her and gently took held her hand.

"S-somebody was in my house," she said clearly shaken up.

Olivia looked up to Fin, horrified. "What do you mean?"

"I was getting ready for bed," Elizabeth explained with tears coating her throat. I was just about to change when somebody came up behind me and put their hand over my mouth... They asked me for my laptop and I told them I didn't have it."

"You're covered in blood," Olivia said stating the obvious, "What happened?"

"He had a knife," she answered with her tears falling again, "He got my leg."

Olivia was stunned. She couldn't believe this was going on. It was beginning to become too much and she just wanted it to stop. She very carefully and very gently pulled Elizabeth's pant leg up, exposing the ferocious wound.

"We have to get you to a hospital," Fin said, "This is a deep cut."

"No!" Elizabeth said, "I can't! He's watching. I- I don't feel safe there. Please..."

"Okay," Olivia said calming her down, "Okay. No hospital. Just lay down and I'll go get some bandages okay. Elliot, call Melinda."

Elliot made the call to Melinda and asked her for a favor which Melinda was happy to help in any way she could. She was instructed to bring only herself and make sure she wasn't followed. Then she was told to call Fin before stepping out of her car so he could escort her inside. She didn't know what was going on but she figured she would ask when she got there.

Olivia searched through her apartment for all the gauze and bandages she could find. She had some stored away in her hall closet just in case she ever needed them. Now seemed like as good a time as ever.

"This will hurt," Olivia said to Elizabeth before applying the gauze and adding pressure.

Elizabeth yelled out in pain.

"I'm sorry," Olivia said, "I'm sorry this happened to you."

"It's... not your fault," she said between the pain.

Olivia continued to apply pressure hoping the bleeding would stop and Melinda would be able to stitch it up. Now things were getting more dangerous and yet, they still had nothing. Olivia was growing more furious by the second.

"I'm here," Melinda said into her cell phone.

"I'm on my way down," Fin said, "Don't get out of the car until I get there."

Fin drew his gun and made his way down the steps and out to the parking lot where Melinda was waiting patiently in the car.

"Want to tell me what all of this is about?"

"Inside," he said politely.

When they arrived back up to Olivia's apartment Fin made sure Melinda went inside first and he bolted the door back up. Melinda could be a potential victim too. They were better safe than sorry.

"What the hell happened?" she asked seeing Elizabeth lying on the couch with her leg exposed.

"She was stabbed," Olivia answered, "By the same person who killed Cragen, Munch, and is now after me."

Melinda gave her a frightened expression, "Are you sure?"

Olivia nodded, "I doubt it would be anybody else. Whoever is doing this is serious. We did something to really piss him off."

Melinda dropped her bag containing medical supplies to the floor beside the couch so it would be easy access to her while she was working on Elizabeth's leg. The wound wasn't too deep but, it was deep enough to need stitches. Olivia had done the right thing by applying pressure and getting it to stop bleeding. That made Melinda's job a little easier to accomplish.

"Should I be watching my back?" Melinda asked just after she had given Elizabeth a sedative.

Elliot shrugged, "We honestly don't have a clue. We don't have a suspect in mind and we don't know why they are after us."

"We have reason to believe that Olivia is their next target," Fin said finishing off a cold beer from Olivia's fridge.

Melinda had finished fixing up Elizabeth's leg and was already safely back to her house where her husband and child were waiting. Olivia felt is was best if they spent the night at a hotel, just to be safe. She had called Fin when they were safe in the hotel and that was one last thing Fin had to worry about. He had already lost too many people and he wasn't about the let the death rate go up.

Elizabeth was sleeping on the couch pain free thanks to the sedative that Melinda had given her. Olivia was told she would sleep the rest of the night without waking. It was pushing one in the morning now and Elliot, Fin, and Olivia were all too stressed to sleep. They were lounged around the kitchen table thinking profusely.

"We aren't ever going to accomplish anything when we are running on no sleep," Fin said breaking the silence.

Olivia stifled a yawn, "Go ahead. I'm too tired to sleep."

Elliot laughed at that. Leave it to her to say something to make him smile at a time like this. "Come on," he said putting his bottom lip out, "Please?"

"I can't sleep, Stabler," she said adamantly. "You guys go ahead. There's plenty of bed room."

Elliot shot Fin a look that made it very clear they wouldn't be sharing Olivia's bed. That was awkward and wouldn't happen in a million years.

"I'll sleep in the chair," Elliot said. He wanted to be able to keep an eye on Olivia anyways so it was the perfect plan.

Olivia was the only one awake now and she couldn't stand the silence. She began crying. She was crying for Cragen and Munch because they were innocent lives that had been lost. She was crying for all the victims that were being sent to other precincts so their cases could be solved. She was crying for Elizabeth and her leg and she was crying for herself. Everybody around her was going away... just like that. She always figured her life would end during a case. She wouldn't mind as long as she had went saving somebody else. Now she wasn't protecting anybody. If she was their next target, she would have to protect herself so she could save everyone else. She stood up quietly from the kitchen table and grabbed her jacket off its hanger and buttoned it up. She had one destination in mind. She was tired of sitting back and crying. That wasn't going to solve anything. She looked back to Elliot one last time who was still lying sound asleep in the chair. He looked so innocent and so adorable sleeping. She took a deep breath and counted to ten before letting it out. Then she headed outside, locking the door tight behind her. She went out into the cold midnight air with gun attached to her hip. If somebody was following her, they would have to follow her to wherever she led them. The place she was most comfortable with.

**If you are reading, please leave a review. It would mean so much to hear your feedback!**


	9. Chapter 9

If Olivia was being honest, she was really scared. Her hands were shaking as she gripped the flashlight tightly. She didn't want to turn the lights on in case somebody had followed her. She knew this place like the back of her hand. She shined the light around at her desk and noticed that things were missing. Her desk had been trashed. She then shined the light against Elliot's desk and his desk had been trashed too. Then she looked around on the floor and there was paper everywhere. She sighed when she realized that nobody had followed her. Whoever was after them already came to the precinct to get what he wanted. He wouldn't go back. It was too risky. She decided to just head back home. If Elliot woke up and found out she had left he would freak out.

"Liv?" Elliot asked wiping the tiredness from his eyes.

She had just managed to get in and lock the door when he had woken up. "Yeah?"

"You went to the precinct," he said matter-of-factly.

Olivia sighed and sat her gun down on the kitchen table. She walked over to the chair he was sitting in and sat down beside him. She broke down crying. "First Cragen, then John! What the hell is going on here Elliot?!"

He wrapped his arms around her tightly and whispered into her ear. "I know... I know. It's okay, let it out."  
She leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes as Elliot stroked her hair. "You need to sleep," he whispered to her. "I'm here. Fin's here. You will be safe. I will make sure of that."

"El?"

"Yeah, Liv?"

"Don't leave," she said quietly.

He hugged her a bit tighter, "I won't."

It was early the next morning and Elliot hadn't went back to sleep after Olivia got back. He wanted to keep an eye on the house. He had carefully maneuvered his body out from under hers and lay her down gently in the chair. She almost looked peaceful for the first time in days.

He was in the kitchen making breakfast now and Fin was helping him.

"I feel like a woman," Fin complained as he cracked a few eggs into the skillet.

Elliot laughed, "Well, I didn't want to wake Olivia and Elizabeth is still out of it."

"She's really taking this hard," Fin said sadly, "I don't think I've ever seen her so upset."

Elliot nodded, "We are the only family she has. It's more personal to her than it is to anyone of us."

"I can hear you!" Olivia yelled from the kitchen.

None of the guys said a word. They continued making breakfast for everybody. When they were finished they made three plates and sat around the kitchen table, eating in silence.

"She needs to wake up," Olivia said after she cleared her plate. It had been the first time she had actually eaten since the whole ordeal. "She saw him. She saw him."

"Liv," Elliot said reaching across the table and touching her hand, "If she saw him she would have told us last night."

Olivia shook her head, "She was in shock. She was traumatized. She might remember today."

Elliot sighed, he knew it was a long shot but if it made Olivia feel better, then he was all for it. "Do you want to or should I?"

Olivia shrugged, "I will."

"Hey, Elizabeth," she said quietly as she sat down on the edge of the couch.

Elizabeth's eyes fluttered slowly open as they adjusted to the light. "Hey," she said hoarsely.

"I know you're probably in a lot of pain," she began, "But the sooner we talk about this the better."

"I saw him," Elizabeth mumbled.

Olivia gave her a sad smile, "Do you know him?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "No... but he has dark hair. Kind of wavy."

Olivia nodded, "You're doing great Liz. Do you remember anything else?"

"Uh... he had blue eyes. Very blue eyes."

"Did he say anything? Anything at all?"

"All he said was that he wanted the computer and when I didn't give it to him that's when he stabbed me..." Suddenly reminded of the shooting pain in her leg she winced. She was hoping it would feel better by now, at least a little.

"Does it hurt?" Olivia questioned.

Liz nodded, "Yeah."

"I'll get you some Ibuprofen. Hopefully that will help a little."

Olivia rummaged through her medicine cabinet in her bathroom to look for the medicine she knew she had. She always had some on hand for nights when she had headaches or if it was a rough day at work. When she finally found the bottle she took them to Liz along with a bottle of water.

"Hey Liv?" Elliot asked from the kitchen table as he peeked over the lid of Olivia's laptop.

"Yeah?"

"When was the last time you talked to Simon?"

Olivia was a little caught off guard by the question. She wasn't expecting that name to come out of Elliot's mouth. She hadn't talked to Simon since the whole ordeal they had together back in 2007. "I haven't talked to him in about five years. Why?"

Elliot looked back down to computer screen and then turned it around to face me. "That's why."

Elliot had pulled up one of the articles online that Cragen wasn't able to delete before he was killed. It was supposedly written by Liz but, at the bottom there seemed to be a mistake. It was signed by someone named Simon.

"There are thousands of Simon's in the world," Olivia said defending her brother, "Why do you think that's Simon Marsden?"

"Who else would be after SVU?"

"He has no reason to go after us! We helped him out of jail time and him and I haven't talked since."

"He has brown wave like hair," Elliot said pulling the laptop back around to face him.

"And very blue eyes," Fin added as he finished the coffee in his cup.

Olivia sighed and sat down next to Elliot. She rested her head in her hand and began checking out the article in depth. Basically it said the same thing as the other articles. It said that Serena Benson was a liar and that Olivia wasn't really her daughter because she was never raped. Olivia couldn't take it anymore. She slammed the laptop close and made a mad dash to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"You believe this?" Fin asked referring the the article.

"No," Elliot sighed, "But I'm not going to take the chance. I'm going to have a talk with Simon."

"I don't think that's a good idea!"

Fin and Elliot both turned their heads to the door where the shout came from and Fin rushed to unlock it, letting Melinda and her husband, Jonathan, inside.

"What's going on?" Fin questioned.

"Simon Marsden has been found dead."

Olivia had heard the talking going on in the living room but she just didn't want to listen anymore. It was too much. She was losing everybody. She flopped onto her bed and buried her face in her pillows, letting her sobs all out.

"When?" Elliot asked.

"Early this morning around two," Melinda answered, "That's not all."

Fin motioned Melinda and her husband them and they all sat down around the table. Liz had fallen back to sleep and Elliot was sure Olivia wasn't up for talking.

"What else?" Elliot asked preparing himself for the worst.

"So was Olivia's niece..."

"Dammit," Elliot sighed.

Fin just shook his head. It was beginning to look more like an Olivia related case than it was an SVU case.

"They were both shot once," Melinda continued, "In the abdomen. They would have bled outs slowly..."

"Liv can't handle this right now," Elliot whispered, "You can't tell her."  
Melinda nodded, she understood. Losing everyone close to you was scary. Olivia hardly had any family to begin with so Melinda really couldn't imagine.

"There were prints found at the scene," Melinda went on to say. Jonathon squeezed her hand a little tighter and it didn't go unnoticed by Fin and Elliot.

"Whose?!" Fin wanted to know.

"You're not going to believe me when I tell you..."  
"Who?" Elliot asked, he couldn't take it anymore. He was ready to kill somebody for messing with his friends and family. They had been just sitting back and basically taking it and Elliot was done. Not anymore. Nobody killed his family and just got away with it. That was justice.

_Sometimes I wonder why I ever went into SVU. Was I setting myself up? Was I planning my life to be like this? Some people might say yes... but, that's not why I joined. I joined because I wanted to make a difference. I joined because I wanted to help those who couldn't help themselves. I was going to be one person who helped change the world no matter how much I hurt myself doing it. Working at SVU wasn't for me. It was for everyone around me. It was for everyone who suffered because there was no safe place where they could go. It was for all the women and men who remained silent and their lives were changed because of it. If I could go back... I wouldn't change it. SVU is where I belong. I'm making a difference and a difference has been made in me. Now if I could only get my girly ass up off the bed and wipe away the tears long enough to kick somebody's ass. Elliot's probably worrying sick about me... Everybody needs an Elliot Stabler in their life._  
"Liv?"

Olivia sighed and closed out of her writing and shoved it under her pillow. The story wasn't for anyone but Olivia to read. "Come in," she said quietly.

Elliot pushed the door open and gave Olivia a sad smile before joining her on the bed and giving her an elegant kiss on her temple. "We need to talk."

"We're missing something," Olivia said, "I know we are. We have solved cases with less evidence than this! We aren't thinking clearly."

"Liv..." Elliot said reaching for her hands and holding both of them in his own.

"Melinda just stopped by..."

Olivia stopped talking then and just gazed into Elliot's eyes. She knew there was news and by the look of his face it wasn't going to be good.

"Simon and Olivia Marsden were murdered this morning..."

"Wh-w-what?" Olivia's face turned red instantly with sadness as she fought to hold in her tears.

"There were prints found at the scene," he went on to say. He could barely speak with the way Olivia was breaking down in front of him. He just wanted to cuddle her in his arms and be able to protect her from the outside world. He just wanted to make everything better.

"Who?"

Elliot shook his head. He wasn't sure he should tell her. This was either going to send her into hysterics or make her really pissed. Either way... he knew what was best. "ADA Alex Cabot."

**Dun dun... DUN! So what do you think? Did Alex really kill Simon and Olivia or is it all just a scheme? **


	10. Chapter 10

"That's... no," Olivia said shaking her head, "There has to be a mistake. Tell her to run it again!"

"Liv," Elliot said reaching for Olivia's hand and squeezing it gently, "She ran it five times. Alex's name popped up every time."

Olivia shook her head again, "Alex wouldn't do this. She wouldn't! You and I both know that Elliot!"

"We don't know who's doing this!" Elliot said letting his rage from all the events take over, "Alex leaving her prints is the only thing we have to go off of! Do you have a better idea or another lead because if you don't then Alex is our only one and Fin and I are going to her house right now."

Olivia sniffed and wiped the tears off her face. Elliot was right. They didn't have any other leads and she was the one who said that it could be anyone. That was limited to Alex Cabot. She may have been their friend but she had turned on them once before and who's to say she wouldn't do it again?

"I don't want to stay here by myself," Olivia said, "If somebody comes I can't protect myself and Liz."

"Melinda and Jonathan are going to stay here with you," Elliot informed, "It's safer if you stay here."

Olivia sighed, "Liz said whoever stabbed her had brown hair and blue eyes... Alex doesn't fit that profile."

"She could be working with somebody," Elliot said giving Olivia a kiss against her cheek, "You know that..."

"Doesn't mean I want to believe it," she mumbled.

"If she has an alibi we can clear her name just like that," Elliot said getting off of the bed and following Olivia into the living room, "If she's innocent than none of us have anything to worry about."

"I hope you're right."

Elliot and Fin took the squad car that was parked outside and drove to the upper West side to Alex's house. With Alex being a lawyer, she had a lot of money plus the family money she got when her rich parents passed away. She lived in a pretty big house for living alone so Fin and Elliot were prepared to take all precautions. If Alex really was behind all of this, then there was no telling what she could do.

"You really think Cabot's in on this?" Fin asked Elliot while they were sitting at a red light.

Elliot sighed, "I don't want to and I don't see her reasoning for it but... I don't know how else her prints would be there."

Fin shrugged, "Maybe somebody else set her up. Maybe they made her kill them."

"I don't know," Elliot said, "But we'll figure it out."

Fin pulled the car into the driveway of Alex's house and made sure he had his gun on him before stepping out of the car and proceeding to the door. They knocked once and waited for an answer but there wasn't one so they knocked again.

"Sorry," Alex said stumbling to the door, "I was up stairs."

Alex looked like a mess. Her hair was scraggly and misplaced, her eyes were red and puffy, and she was wearing clothes that had stains all over them. Neither Fin or Elliot had ever seen her look so... bad.

"Can we come in?" Fin asked hoping that Alex would open the door.

"Uh... yeah. What's this about?" she questioned leading them to the couch in the living room.

Elliot sighed, here went nothing. "We need to know where you were this morning... around two."

Alex seemed caught off guard. She gave them a questioning look before tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and adjusting her glasses. "I was here all night," she answered, "And no I don't have anyone who can vouch for that. Why are you asking me this?"

"There was a murder," Fin answered, "Your finger prints are all over the crime scene."  
"That's... impossible," Alex said standing up from the couch and placing her hands over her mouth, "I wouldn't kill anybody... I- oh my gosh..."

"Calm down," Elliot said standing up after her and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, "We don't think you did anything. We think somebody's setting you up."

Alex looked at him through her puffy eyes as her sobs quieted. "Somebody made me do it."

Fin shot a quick glance to Elliot and then asked to use the restroom. Alex pointed him in the direction and then sat back down on the couch with Elliot to talk about it. Elliot went on asking her a bunch of questions about who made her do it and how they did it while Fin was checking out the rest of the house.

He quietly made his around the rooms upstairs and when he found Alex's room he stepped inside. It was a clean room except for the disheveled covers on the bed but other than that there wasn't a speck of dust in sight. Fin looked around for anything incriminating or something they could use to prove that Alex was innocent but instead, he found something the opposite. He found a shoebox under her bed and pulled it out to see what was inside. There were pictures. Tons of pictures and they were all of the same person. He reached his cell phone out of his pocket to take pictures so he could show Elliot and Olivia once they got back to Olivia's place. Now that things were heating up that needed to be extra careful. Especially when they were dealing with one of their own as the bad guy.

"Liv just called," Fin said making his way down the steps, "We got to go."

Elliot gave Fin a questioning look but told Alex goodbye and that he would keep her updated.

"What was that all about?" he asked once they were in the car.

Fin took his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped to the picture that he had taken upstairs. "This," he said.

"Where did you get this?"

"Under Alex's bed," Fin answered, "She isn't the victim here."

"No..." Elliot sighed, "She's not."

"You okay?" Melinda asked when she couldn't get Olivia to stop pacing.

"Alex couldn't have done this," Olivia said, "She's our friend! She wouldn't kill Cragen or Simon or... gosh... Olivia was only four years old..."

Melinda stood up from the table leaving her husband behind and gently pulled Olivia to sit down in the bedroom. "I'm sorry," she said.

"I just don't understand. I haven't done anything... none of us have done anything wrong. Especially not to Alex. And Simon? What did Simon do to anyone? What did Olivia do to anyone?! She was four years old! She was helpless! She was probably so scared!" Olivia started crying as she thought about her only niece crying, scared, alone, and in pain.

"Calm down," Melinda said to her with sympathetic eyes, "You have to calm down. You aren't going to solve the case with a clouded head."

Olivia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Melinda was right, the case wasn't going anywhere when her head wasn't in the game. Just as she was about to say something Elliot and Fin came marching back into the apartment.

"You're not going to believe this," Fin said taking his coat off and letting it fall to the floor. He walked straight back into the bedroom where he saw Melinda and Olivia and showed them his phone.

"I found these in Alex's bedroom," he explained, "They were in a shoebox under her bed.

"That's me," Olivia said quietly as she looked at the pictures through the picture in Fin's phone, "All of them are me."

Fin nodded, "Liv, there are tons of pictures in that box."

Olivia let out a shaky breath, "So...what does this mean?" She looked up to Elliot who was standing in the doorway for an answer.

"It means... you're her main target."

"No," Olivia said shaking her head, "No that's not true because... because then Cragen and Munch and Simon and Olivia dying would be all my fault..."

"That's not true and you know it," he said kindly, "This isn't any way your fault."

"Did you arrest her?" Olivia asked.

"No," Fin sighed.

"Why not?! We have enough evidence! Her prints were at the crime scene!"

"We called in a favor from Casey," Fin began explaining, "She's going to try this case. She told us to wait for her before we went any further. We have Alex down for the murder of Simon and Olivia but, that's it. We don't have any proof that she killed Cragen or Munch and unless she admits it, we won't ever."

"Why didn't you arrest her for killing Simon and Olivia?! They didn't do anything to her!"

"Because... she doesn't know we suspect her yet," Elliot stepped in, "She thinks we believe her story about someone forcing her to do it."

"This still doesn't make sense!" Olivia pleaded, "Liz said there was a man in her apartment. A man with brown hair and blue eyes."

"We think she set Simon up," Elliot answered, "It's the only plausible explanation. Maybe he threatened to rat her out and that's when she killed him."

"So... what? We wait for Casey to get here and then we arrest Alex? We take her to the precinct and question her with Casey's supervision?"

"Yes," Elliot nodded, "She's not going to get away with this."

"She's dangerous," Olivia added, "She's already killed four people by herself. What makes you think she won't come after us before we get to her?"

"She won't," Elliot said, "None of us are leaving this apartment without all of us going along. That's the safest way and that's how we're going to play it."

Just then Elliot's phone went off and he looked at the caller I.D to see that it was Casey. She had texted him to let him know that she was at the door. He believed her but he looked through the peephole to be safe before letting her in.

"So," she began sitting her briefcase down on the kitchen table, "Let's get started."


	11. Chapter 11

"Alright here's how this is going to go down," Olivia said handing a manilla envelope back to Casey, "Melinda, Jonathan, Casey, and I are going to go to the precinct. We'll sweep the place and set up the interrogation room because it's a mess. Elliot and Fin, you guys get Alex and bring her there. We interrogate and get a confession. Case closed."

"Liv," Elliot said calmly, "It's not that easy."

"Why isn't it?" she demanded.

"She isn't going to give it up just like that," Casey answered stepping in, "She's a lawyer. She knows all the tricks. She knows that all we have is her prints and if she sticks to her story..."

Olivia sighed and then bit her bottom lip. "Let's just go pick her up."

Fin and Elliot pulled up in front of Alex's house again for the second time that day and went to knock on the door. When they didn't get an answer Elliot hollered that he was going to bust the door down. He took a step back and then kicked the door with all his weight. Alex wasn't going to get away with this as long as it was up to him.

"I take upstairs you take downstairs," Fin said already heading for the stairs.

"Alex!" Elliot called holding his gun out in front of him and searching every room.

"Come on, Alex!" Fin yelled upstairs. There was one room left and Fin pushed the door open, shocked to find Alex.

"Elliot!" he screamed, "Up here! Call a bus!"

Alex was lying in her bed with the sheets all messed up and her clothes bloody. The pictures of Olivia were scattered all over the floor along with splatters of blood. Fin reached his hand to Alex's neck to see if she had a pulse and sighed of relief when he felt one. It was weak but it was there.

"Not so sure she's our main suspect anymore," Fin said when Elliot walked into the room.

Elliot sighed and stuffed his hands into his pocket. If somebody attacked Alex then somebody was out there still after Olivia.

"Thanks for driving," Olivia said to Casey, "All of this has just..."

"I know," Casey said turning the car onto the next street. "It's a lot."

Olivia sighed, "I can't believe Alex would do this. I mean... what's her reason? What did I do that was so bad that would cause her to kill...?"  
"I don't know Liv," Casey said sadly.

As they pulled into the parking lot Olivia realized that Casey took the longer route to the precinct and she wondered why. "Why did you drive the long way?"

"Oh, I don't know," she shrugged, "I guess I'm just so used to coming from that way."

Olivia nodded and as she was about to step out of the car she realized something else; Melinda and Jonathan's car wasn't there yet and they took a shorter route. That's when it clicked and Olivia's breath hitched.

Fin explained to the EMTs about how they found Alex and they quickly took her to the hospital. She had a stab wound to the lower abdomen and Fin had done the right thing by trying to stop the bleeding. He was able to keep the pressure long enough for the blood to clot and Alex not to die from blood loss.

While Fin was listening to the EMTs and answering some questions for them Elliot was on his cell phone trying to get a hold of Olivia.

"Come on Liv," he said when he got voicemail for the millionth time, "Call me back ASAP." He hung up his phone and stuffed it back into his pocket with a sigh.

"Let's get to the precinct," Elliot said to Fin once the ambulance was pulling away, "Liv's not answering her phone and neither is Melinda."

"Let's go."

They had just gotten into the car and tempted pulling out of the driveway when they heard their radio going off about an accident that happened just a block away from Olivia's place.

Elliot looked to Fin and all the color had drained from his face, "That's Melinda's car..."

"Son of a bitch," Fin said stepping on the gas, "We got to get to the precinct. Try calling Casey and call Liv again!"

Whoever their perp was, was very serious about his business. Cragen and Munch, Simon and Olivia, and now Melinda and Jonathan. If Olivia was their main target then they needed to get to her and Casey and before time ran out.

"I'm just going to use the bathroom real quick," Olivia said once they were inside.

"Okay," Casey said setting her briefcase down in the interrogation room. "Be careful."

"Yeah," Olivia said quietly, "Careful..."

She made her way to the restroom and took her phone out to see that she had ten missed called from Elliot. She went into the stall and locked it behind her and called Elliot back.

_"Liv! Where the hell are you?"_

"The precinct," she said quickly and quietly, "Listen, Elliot, I know who's doing this."

_"Alex is in the hospital."_

"I know," Olivia said sadly with panic rising over her, "Alex didn't do it!"

_"Liv, slow down."_

"It's Casey," she cried, "Ca-"

"Liv? Olivia?!"

"What's goin' on man?"

Elliot pulled the phone away from his ear and turned to look at Fin, "It's Casey."

"What? Casey? Are you sure?"

"Liv's in trouble," he said seriously, "Get to the damn precinct!"

Fin turned the siren on now and dodge all of the traffic by swerving in and out of all the large trucks and yellow taxi cabs. He wasn't going to lose another person.

Elliot kept his eyes on the road and tried to focus on the task at hand. All he could think about was making sure Olivia was safe. That was the only thing that mattered now. Casey was going to pay for everything and right now he didn't care about how she did it. Suddenly all of his past cases that involved Olivia in danger came flooding back to him. They were like pictures flashing in his mind and he had to fight to keep his tears under control.

"You alright?" Fin asked seeing that Elliot was distressed.

"I love her," he said shakily. "I love her and I'm not about to lose her now."

**Uh oh. Casey? Are you sure? I don't know... Is Olivia safe? Is anybody safe?**


	12. Chapter 12

"You set her up," Olivia said sadly as she sat across from Casey at the table, "Why?"

Casey smirked and went to stick a chair under the knob of the interrogation room door so nobody could get in. "She had it coming."

"Alex didn't do a thing to you," Olivia back lashed, "Neither did any of the other people you killed."

"I didn't kill anybody," Casey said now pacing back and forth, "You can't prove I did either."

"Just tell me why," Olivia said swallowing the lump in her throat, "Why are you doing this?"

"You haven't liked me from day one," Casey began folding her arms across her chest, "All I was trying to do was my job and that was never good enough for you and Elliot. We were in the same side but you were too blinded to see any of that. I figure... if I kill you, Stabler will be hurt so badly that it would be like killing him too. It also makes my job a little easier. I mean, he thinks Alex is doing this."

Olivia rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't. They were supposed to be friends. They had gotten over their hate a long time ago.

"You're not going to get away with this," Olivia said through gritted teeth, "Elliot and Fin are on their way here right now."

Casey smiled, "It's all apart of the plan."

"Olivia!" Elliot busted through the front doors of the precinct and made a mad dash to the bathroom where he would hope to find Olivia. He grew even more frustrated toward Casey when he didn't find Olivia there.

"Elliot!" Fin hollered from somewhere in the precinct.

Elliot flew out of the bathroom and found Fin standing in Cragen's office looking through the window into the interrogation room.

"She locked it," Fin said sadly, "She locked the door and she's gone."

Casey was nowhere to be found and neither was Olivia. The precinct seemed empty but both Fin and Elliot knew that Olivia was there somewhere.

"She can't just lock the door from out here," Elliot said with a raised brow, "They're in there."

Before Fin could do anything to stop him, Elliot picked up what used to be Cragen's chair and threw it against the glass, causing it to shatter into a million little pieces. They both heard a soft moan and that's when they saw Olivia lying on the floor with glass now covering her.

"Oh my God," Fin gasped.

"Call a bus!"

"Liv," Elliot said carefully picking the glass off of her and scooping her up into his arms, "It's okay. It's okay. You're okay. Where's Casey?"

Olivia just shrugged. Some time after Casey had tazed her and beat her with a baseball bat, she had lost conscience and that must have been when Casey slipped out.

"Why did she do this?" Elliot asked, wanting to keep her talking.

"I left..." Olivia whispered as her face flushed in agony, "I left and she-she got beat up... with a bat. She... said... we never liked her..."

Elliot sighed. Olivia wasn't making sense and right now they needed to find Casey before she did any more damage. There was no telling what else she had planned.

"Where would she go?" Fin asked Elliot as he made his way to the window and looked out.

That's when the lights went out and the whole precinct went black.

"What's happening?" Olivia asked, barely able to lift her head.

"Shh," Elliot said holding onto her tightly, "It's okay. The lights just went out. The ambulance is on their way. You just hang on."

"Fin," he said with a crack in his voice, "She's not done yet."

"That's what I was afraid of."

"Okay," Elliot said, "We need to get Olivia into the captain's office and lock all the doors. We'll be safe in there until the ambulance gets here."

Fin nodded even though Elliot couldn't see him. The room was dark and they could barely make out their hands in front of their faces. Fin knew that Cragen kept a flash light under his desk just in case anything was to happen. He carefully found his way over to where it was and flipped it on. He shined the light around the room making sure it was free of Casey and then helped Elliot carry Olivia.

"How you doing?" Fin asked as Olivia rested her head in Elliot's lap.

"I've been better," she slurred.

Fin chuckled. Even after being beaten, Olivia still found it in her to crack a joke.

"Don't let her win..." she whispered as she lost the fight to keep her eyes open. It was the last thing she remembered about that night.

"Has she waken up yet?" Fin asked walking into the hospital room and handing Elliot a cup of steaming coffee.

"No," Elliot whispered, gladly accepting the drink and warming his throat.

Fin pulled up a plastic chair next to Elliot and sat down. "She will. Give her time."

Elliot sighed. Watching Olivia last night made him realize just how much he felt about her. All he could think about was if Casey had done what she came to do. Olivia would probably be dead right now if they hadn't gotten to the precinct in time.

"Is Melinda doing okay?"

After they had arrived at the hospital last night with Olivia they got a call from Melinda telling them that she was okay. She managed to escape the car with only her arm being burned. The doctors at Mercy cleaned the burn and bandaged it up and Melinda was sent home. Only she didn't go home. She ran into Fin and Elliot in the waiting room and they explained to her what had happened. She decided to go home and get changed because Casey thought she was dead anyway.

"Yeah," Fin nodded as he took another sip of his coffee, "She's doing okay. She's worried about Liv."

"So am I," Elliot sighed. He turned his attention back to the body lying in the hospital bed. Last night the emergency room doctor had taken Olivia up for a cat scan and an MRI to make sure there wasn't any internal bleeding. They checked for broken ribs and anything else that could have gone wrong. They stitched the cut on her forehead and bandaged her broken wrist but other than that they said she would be okay. They kept her over night for observations and the pain medicine they had given her kept her unconscious.

"Ouch..." Olivia mumbled, squeezing her eyes closed tight and grabbing for her bandaged wrist.

"Don't touch it," Elliot said gently, moving her hand away, "It's broke."

Olivia sighed and opened her eyes to find Elliot hovering over her. She looked down at the taped up wrist and frowned. "Did you get her?"

Elliot shook his head sadly, "After the ambulance got there Fin and I stayed here with you the whole time."

"She's not done."

"I know," he whispered, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Liv," Elliot said taking a deep breath, "There's something I need to tell you. I know now might not be a great time but, it can't wait any longer. I need you to know."

"Okay..." she said looking to Fin hoping for a warning.

Fin just shrugged and stepped out of the room to answer his phone.

Elliot took another deep breath and captured Olivia's good hand in his. "Last night... all I could think about was what would happen if I lost you..."

Outside in the hallway, Fin was on the phone with Melinda and he was hoping she was calling just to check in. He was mistaken.

"What do you mean?" he asked worriedly.

"I mean," Melinda said closing the curtain and stepping away from the window, "Casey isn't the only one doing this. Somebody is outside my house and it isn't Casey. I wasn't able to get a good look but, this person does not have strawberry blonde hair."

"Female?" Fin asked, hoping to get some information so they could try and identify the man who was helping Casey kill people.

"No," Melinda said, "I've never seen him before. He has black hair with gray in it. Uh, mid forties, maybe. Tall."

"Okay, I'm sending a patrol to your house right now. Don't go outside. Lock all the doors. Stay away from the windows. Olivia just woke up so I will be at your house as soon as I can!"

"We've got a problem," Fin said busting back into the hospital room just before Elliot could finish what he needed to say.

"What is it?" Olivia asked looking up at him with worried eyes.

"There's somebody else. I sent a patrol to Melinda's house but we need to get there now."

"Melinda's alive?"

Fin nodded, "She was able to get out of the car with only a few minor burns."

Olivia let out a sigh of relief. She thought her best friend was dead and to hear that she wasn't lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. "Go," she whispered, "Don't let her get hurt."

"What about you?" Elliot asked, "I'm not just going to leave you hear."

"I'm in the hospital if you haven't noticed," she said with the corner of her lips turning upward, "I highly doubt anything will happen to me here."

Elliot was worrying for nothing. Of course hospitals were safe. Nobody even knew she was there except for Elliot, Fin, and Melinda. Her name wasn't on the list at the front desk just in case anybody asked for her and they all knew that. Olivia would be just fine.

"Go," she said again seeing that Elliot was still a little hesitant.

"Okay," he said softly, letting the conversation they just had drop, "I'll be back as soon as I can." He turned to leave with Fin but before he got to the door he turned around and walked back to Olivia's bedside. "I love you," he whispered as he bent down and kissed her lightly on the kips. Then he walked out and left her alone to take in everything that just happened.


	13. Chapter 13

On the car ride to Melinda's house Fin was thinking about all the possible people who could fit the description Melinda gave him and who would be most likely to know or run into Casey. There were so many perps in SVU who could want revenge but how many of them would Casey team with?

"Is it just me?" Elliot asked, "Or does the description sound a lot like Porter."

Fin glanced over at him for a split second before turning the car onto Melinda's street. "It's not just you."

They both drew their weapons and held them out in front of them, waving around in their waiting for someone to match the description to show up. They made their way to Melinda's building and knocked on the door three times, like they told her they would. She looked to make sure it was Fin and Elliot and then she let them in.

"He left," Melinda said to them as she made herself comfortable on the couch, "When the patrol got here he talked to them for a minute, and then he left. They didn't do anything about it."

Elliot sighed. The patrol would have no reason to suspect an FBI agent. "I'll call Langan."

"Why's he calling Langan?" Melinda asked Fin, "What's going on?"

"Do you remember the case where the two people were found in the back of the truck and the woman's implants had been taken out? The FBI agent on the case was Agent Porter. He... has beef with Olivia and apparently so did Casey. My guess is they're working together to get payback."

"What's Langan going to do?"

"He can get us a warrant to search his place. He's been helping us out lately."

"Langan is on your side? Never thought I'd see the day," Melinda teased.

Fin smiled, "Me either."

Langan was able to get subpoena so they could search Porter's house. It wasn't an easy thing to get a warrant or anything on a cop but Trevor had a judge who owed him a favor.

Fin and Elliot didn't waste any time going to Porter's house. First they dropped Melinda off at the hospital so she could stay with Olivia and then they were on their way.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Olivia said as soon as Melinda appeared in her sight, "I can't believe this is all because of me."  
"This isn't your fault," Melinda said kindly.

"Yeah it is," Olivia sighed, plopping her head back against the thin hospital pillow, "When Casey first started I wasn't very nice to her..."

"Liv," Melinda said taking her hand, "This isn't your fault. None of it."

"I just can't believe I let her do this to me." Tears welled in her eyes as she spoke and Melinda could see that she was upset.

"Don't cry, Liv," Melinda said gently, "Elliot and Fin are going to put an end to this. They're on their way to Porter's house right now."

"Porter?!"

"Uh," Melinda didn't know that they guys hadn't told Olivia who they thought was working with Casey. She wondered if they kept it a secret for a reason. "Yeah... they think Porter is working with Casey."

Olivia sighed again and closed her eyes to keep her tears away. She felt like everything was her fault. Munch and Cragen were dead. Melinda's husband; dead. All because of her.

"I'm so sorry," she cried, "I didn't mean for this to happen. I don't know why I didn't see this coming."

"Liv," Melinda said keeping calm, "Nobody thinks this is your fault. Okay? Nobody."

Olivia nodded and she tried to believe what Melinda was saying. Of course it wasn't her fault. She wasn't the one that killed them.

"My hand hurts," she complained as she propped her hand up on a few pillows.

"Here," Melinda said, "Let me take a look."

Fin and Elliot got out of the car and slammed the doors shut behind them. Both detectives were pissed off beyond belief. Dean and Casey had messed with their family and that was never okay.

"Open the damn door, Porter!" Fin barked as he banged loudly on the door, "You got three seconds!"

"One, two, three!" Elliot said nodding to Fin to go ahead and bust it down.

The place looked empty but, they weren't taking any chances. They drew their guns and stepped further in, looking for any sign of Dean.

"If I see the son of a bitch, I swear I'll shoot him," Elliot said through gritted teeth.

"Elliot," Fin said from another room, "In here."

Elliot followed Fin's voice to the kitchen where he was shocked to find two people lying lifeless on the floor.

"What happened here?"

"Here's a letter." Fin picked up a piece of paper off the table that had sloppy cursive writing on it. He handed it to Elliot who read it out loud.

"I only meant to hurt Olivia. Sorry it had to go down this way. Don't worry. It's over now."

Elliot threw the letter down on the ground and it missed a pile of brown sticky blood by only a centimeter. He looked up at Casey and Porter who were holding hands. Blood staining both of their bodies.

"They were in love," Fin said reading Elliot's mind.

Elliot sighed and ran a hand across his face. "We can call CSU on the way. I need to get back to Liv."

"Did you tell her?" Fin asked as they headed out of the house and back to the car.

Elliot smiled, "Sure did."

"Thanks Mel," Olivia said after Melinda finished re-wrapping her wrist.

"Does it feel better?"

"Not really," Olivia said honestly, "But thanks anyway."

Melinda was going to suggest they get a doctor in to ask for some more pain medicine but, before she could speak Elliot and fin showed back up.

"So?" Melinda asked, wanting to know the details.

Fin cleared his throat and Melinda took that as a signal to follow him out of the room. Elliot stayed behind with Olivia.

"What happened?" Olivia asked.

"Casey and Dean Porter were in love," he said to her. "They're both dead now. Casey killed him and then she killed herself..."

Olivia sighed and the tears pricked in her eyes. Casey was someone she used to considered a friend. All the information was just too much to take in. She couldn't believe it. "I can't believe it..."

"I'm sorry," Elliot said reaching for her hand.

"I love you too," Olivia said out of the blue.

"What?"

"You said you loved me," Olivia reminded him as she looked into his eyes, "And... I love you too."

Elliot could feel his heart beating beating in his chest. Those were the words he always wanted to hear. All he could do was smile a goofy smile.

"So... all of this is really over?"

"Yeah," Elliot nodded, "Cragen and Munch's funeral is scheduled for tomorrow. Are you up for attending?"

Olivia nodded sadly, "Of course we're going. I just can't believe they're really gone..."

"I know," Elliot sighed, climbing onto the bed to snuggle with her, "Me either."

**Sorry it's been so long! Up next: the funeral and later we finally get to see this book that Olivia has been writing!**


	14. Chapter 14

As the drove slowly down the road in the line of cars, Olivia couldn't help but cry. Cragen and Munch had been two of her good friends and friends weren't easy to come by. Especially with Olivia's life. Cragen was the closest thing she had ever had to a father and knowing that he was killed because of her made her heart ache.

Plenty of people had showed up the showing. All you saw when you looked around were men in blue. A lot of Cragen and Munch's old co-workers had shown up to pay their respects. The fact that neither of them had any family made Olivia cry harder. All their lives they had worked to save others and take care of others. They didn't have time to worry about themselves.

As the car pulled to stop Olivia was pulled out of her thoughts and back to the harsh reality when Elliot opened her door and reached for her hand. There was a light drizzle of rain falling and it made the day even worse. They burial seemed to pass by in a haze. They all took turns lying a rose on top of the caskets and that's really all Olivia remembered.

_The End._

"What are you up to?" Elliot asked as he sat down next to Olivia on her couch and tried to sneak a peak before she shut the lid of her laptop.

"Uh... I wrote a book."

Melinda and Fin both turned their attention to Olivia.

"You wrote a book?" Melinda asked.

Olivia nodded; slightly embarrassed.

"What's it about?" Fin asked.

"You guys can read it... if you want..."

"Me first," Elliot said taking the laptop from her and opening it up. "Since when do you write books?"

Olivia shrugged and took a sip of her drink. She hoped that Elliot would like her story.

_Have you ever had that feeling in the pit of your stomach that just wouldn't go away? When you finally think you have control you're told wrong and you feel as if you might throw up. The fear that follows behind you as you walk down the sidewalk. Waiting. Watching. You don't know why you're so scared. You have no reason to be. The things you have seen in your life, tell you otherwise. They tell you to be careful and always be aware of your surroundings. Always be watching._

_ Maybe it isn't so wrong to be worried. Maybe it's okay to just stand back and watch. Maybe standing back and watching will give you a new perspective. An easier way. I just don't know anymore… _

_ Elliot got on the phone with the Chinese place and ordered the same old food we usually got. He even ordered for Cragen, knowing what he always had to eat from there. That's how close we were at SVU. We were all like a giant family. A little dysfunctional but… it was still family. Even if I had them as a family, my stomach always went to that place. That place that felt like at any moment, everything would change._

_ I couldn't sleep tonight. I'm not sure why. My body is pretty tired but I just get the feeling that sleep won't do me any good. Do you ever feel that way? So tired that you don't think any amount asleep will help? I guess I'm just babbling now but, it's midnight and I have nothing to do. _

_ Just when you think things can't get worse… they do. Maybe I had a reason to have that feeling in my stomach. Maybe it was trying to warn me that something bad was about to happen. I loved Don like he was my own father. He was someone I trusted and someone I cared for immensely. Now that he's gone I wonder what is going to happen to SVU… he was what held everybody together. He was the one who always helped us solve our fights with each other. _

_ I keep telling myself that this is all a dream and I will wake up from this terrible nightmare at any moment but, the longer I sit here and type the more I realize how real I actually is. Somebody is targeting us. Who? Why? These are questions I ask myself everyday… _

_Do you ever over analyze things? You could be sitting in a room with a two people and when you turn your head, you don't even remember their hair color. As a detective, I'm trained to do so. I try to memorize everything about a person just in case. I should have been paying attention to everyone who walked through those doors. There was the little kid who was lost and couldn't find his mother. There was Langan walking with Cabot. There was the tall guy who had a long beard then, I left with Elliot to talk to a victim._

_ I'm not the only one who over analyzes right? The man who killed Cragen could be sitting in this room. It could be that man sitting at the far right by his self wearing the orange and gray jacket with a little piece of lettuce in his teeth. It could be the woman who was sitting behind me wearing the purple shirt and drinking the mixture of two sodas. It could be anyone._

_ Do you ever have that feeling when you feel like you can't breathe? Like you're suffocating but, in a good way? Right now, I feel like that. I enjoy the company. I'm just not sure what to do with that... _

_ Sometimes I wonder why I ever went into SVU. Was I setting myself up? Was I planning my life to be like this? Some people might say yes... but, that's not why I joined. I joined because I wanted to make a difference. I joined because I wanted to help those who couldn't help themselves. I was going to be one person who helped change the world no matter how much I hurt myself doing it. Working at SVU wasn't for me. It was for everyone around me. It was for everyone who suffered because there was no safe place where they could go. It was for all the women and men who remained silent and their lives were changed because of it. If I could go back... I wouldn't change it. SVU is where I belong. I'm making a difference and a difference has been made in me. Now if I could only get my girly ass up off the bed and wipe away the tears long enough to kick somebody's ass. Elliot's probably worrying sick about me... Everybody needs an Elliot Stabler in their life._

_ Before we go, I have to tell you one last thing about the people here. Everyone is like a family. I feel like since the day I first started everyone has had my back. We grew closer throughout the years and of all the people that came and went, this has to be the best of them. Fin, Munch, Elliot, and Cragen. You couldn't ask for better people to have your back. Everybody here as their own problems, just like a real family, they all have things they are dealing with. We might get in scuffles during the day but, at the end, it's already forgotten about. Who would do such a thing to a family? Who would rip apart the father figure of four children? Who would do such a thing...?_

Elliot had tears in his eyes before he handed the computer over to Fin and Melinda to read. "Liv," he said, "that was your diary."

"I wasn't going to share it with anyone at first," she said quietly, "I thought it was stupid but, then I realized, we dedicate our lives to helping others. We listen to their stories for however long it takes. Who listens to ours? Who helps us keep on living? I just thought it needed to be read..."

"It was beautiful," Elliot said, "Even if I only read the first few pages. This will be a great story for people to read. Memoir of an SVU detective."

"I want you guys you to have something in there too," she said, "We've all seen things that people shouldn't have to see. We all had a case that we became overly attached to. We need to get our stories out there."

Elliot couldn't have been anymore in love with Olivia than he was at that moment. Without thinking he pulled her closer to him and went in for a deep, passionate kiss.

"Whoa!" Melinda squealed.

"I knew it was going to happen," Fin added.

When Elliot pulled away, Olivia looked into his eyes and smiled. "I wonder what Cragen would have said about that one."

Everyone laughed. Even through one of the biggest tragedies and they were still together. Still fighting battles as a family. Still standing by one another. They would continue to do so because now the bond between them all was stronger than ever. The hard times they experienced had brought them even closer together and that was way better than any revenge.


End file.
